Setting Up A Manly Business Website? Where Do You Start?

With so many options available it can be very confusing getting a business website built. How do you decide what you need for the Manly & Northern beaches context?

To help determine exactly what you want from your website, and help a web designer understand your needs, ask yourself these simple questions:

1.    What is the purpose of the website and what should it do for you?

Generate client enquiries, sell more products or position your company as the leader in your field? Write a simple paragraph which states what the site is for and what you want it to do for you. An example of a purpose statement for a local beauty salon site; “To increase awareness of the salon in our local area and produce more enquiries and bookings, specifically for our waxing treatments.” You can see how this clarifies the main purpose of the site and drives design decisions.

2.    Who is your target audience? Northern Beaches? Sydney? Australia? Niche demographic or psychographic?

Write a short profile of the typical person(s) the site is aimed at. An example profile for a women’s interest website; “The main site visitor is a working woman aged between 30 and 50 with an interest in beauty and fashion and in the upper 10% income range”. Now you know who the site visitor is the design, tone and content can be specifically tailored to them.

3.    How should your Northern Beaches business be perceived?

Think of key words or phrases that describe your company image. This should be the way the website “speaks” to the visitor and how you wish your company to be perceived. Use clear single words. An example for an event company could be “professional”, “experienced”, “corporate”, “dynamic”.

4.    How often will the site be updated?

Are you going to be adding new content, news or articles on a regular basis? This helps define what technology you need behind the website. Content management systems are great for some sites but can be over complicated for smaller sites that do not require much updating.

5.    Do you have a colour scheme or ideas about how the site should look?

Be clear about colours you like and do not like, list examples of other sites you have seen that have concepts you like. This will really help a designer to zone in on your preferred style and reduce the number of revisions required.

6.    How will people find your site?

Will it be through searching or from other websites? Think about words and phrases that would best describe your site. Do some research on your competitors to see what word and phrases they use and what sites link to them. Think of some alternate or more “niche” terms that would help set you apart.

Armed with this information you can then speak to a professional web designer and be confident they can take this information and create you a great Northern Beaches website that works for your Northern Beaches business.

By Ivan Slade, Flow Interactive